ACI officers join campaign to get tinted windows

Correctional officers want to be included in a push to allow police, judges, firefighters and state lawmakers to tint their car windows, but the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles is reluctant to give any class of drivers special on-road anonymity.

“Correctional officers face danger both on and off duty. Inmates, former inmates or someone who just does not like uniformed law enforcement can be a threat,” Richard Ferruccio, president of the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional, wrote in testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. “Correctional officers live in the communities and have been targeted for simply wearing their uniforms. This legislation simply would provide a degree of safety while officers commute to and from work.”

Ferrucio asked that a tinted windows bill, introduced by Rep. Anastasia Williams, be amended to add correctional officer to the list of occupations that would allow someone to tint the windows of automobiles they own. The proposed list now would be those employed as “municipal or state police officer, firefighter, judge of a state court, or any elected member of the Rhode Island general assembly.”

But in his own letter to lawmakers, DMV Administrator Walter “Bud” Craddock said that, if passed, the bill could present some practical problems for his agency.

“Of concern is this blanket exemption would also allow others, such as family members or friends of these defined classes, to operate the vehicle, exposing them to a violation of the law,” Craddock wrote. “It is also silent on whether the exemption would apply to vehicles leased by members of these defined classes.”

Craddock added that passing the law would require adjustments to DMV records and potential problems reprogramming the agency’s fairly new computer system.

Currently, tinted windows are forbidden in private vehicles on Rhode Island roads, but Williams argues that lawmakers, judges, firefighters and police are under constant threat of harassment by disgruntled members of the public and would benefit from privacy in their private automobiles.

“If the state police didn’t feel we needed some type of protection, they wouldn’t have their sharpshooters up here,” Williams told the Judiciary Committee Wednesday night, referring to the police presence at the State House on a day when firearms legislation was on the agenda. “It is real. It is no joke. It is scary.”

Williams said she would not be opposed to legalizing tinted windows for everyone.

The state police have not testified on the bill.

Rep. Camille Vela-Wilkinson said private investigators have also asked to be allowed to have tinted windows. panderson@ providencejournal.com

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